The invention relates to a novel system and method for hydrogen gettering.
Hydrogenation process which include the use of catalysts such as palladium, platinum, nickel, etc., are known in the art. These processes generally employ liquids or gases and require specialized equipment for converting unsaturated organic materials to saturated organic materials. Further, depending upon the nature of the catalyst, either high temperatures or high pressures or both may be required.
In some instances it is desirable to remove or getter hydrogen from atmospheres or environments wherein it is not feasible to provide for high temperatures or high pressures or to employ a fluid gettering material. As used herein, removal of hydrogen includes removal of hydrogen isotopes such as tritium and deuterium. For example, the pressence of hydrogen within a closed system may indeed be a real problem since it can be very detrimental to other components, such as vacuum tubes, of the system. In these systems, there may be several possible sources for the generation of hydrogen. A prominent source is the reaction of water vapor, or moisture, with aluminum or other active metal housings or liners. This would also apply to any other material incorporating aluminum or any other metal, which when oxidized, may generate hydrogen gas.
In closed volumes where hydrogen may be detrimental, there is no generally known and satisfactory hydrogen trapping, removing or gettering material which may be employed that does not regenerate moisture or have other disadvantages such as forming pyrophoric or corrosive materials. For example, attempts to use platinum or palladium exclusively may be undesirable since platinum and palladium will absorb hydrogen to form platinum and palladium hydrides, which compounds are objectionably pyrophoric, i.e., they will react with air explosively oxidizing the hydride.
Dessicants have also been used to control the moisture content in closed systems. The use of an absorber type of dessicant such as zeolite to control moisture content has a drawback in that this is a reversible process which means that at some point equilibrium is attained and the dessicant is no longer capable of removing further moisture from the system. At this point the hydrogen content begins to increase, possibly reaching a dangerous level either to personnel or to components of said closed system. Another drawback in using another type of dessicant such as a reactive type of dessicant like phosphorous pentoxide is that the reaction product may be a corrosive material incompatible with or detrimental to surrounding equipment.
Therefore, closed volumes containing hydrogen and its isotopes may be detrimentally affected by their presence. In short, the problem is a result of a lack of suitable materials and methods to remove hydrogen without accompanying detrimental side effects.